Lyon, April 25:

The head of Interpol warned on Friday that China must be prepared for a possible Al-Qaeda attack on the Beijing Olympics, according to a copy of a speech delivered in the Olympic host city.

“We must be prepared for the possibility that Al-Qaeda or some other terrorist group will attempt to launch a deadly terrorist attack at these Olympics,” Interpol chief Ronald Noble told an international conference on security for the Games in Beijing.

“The threat is compounded by the very nature of the 2008 Olympics,” the head of the international police organisation told the gathering. “China will open its doors to hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors and journalists and an audience of billions watching on television.

This could provide easy cover for terrorists and ensure any attack during the Olympics would have an immediate global impact.”

Noble said the security “situation has clearly changed” since September 2007, when Interpol reported that it had no specific information from police in its 186 member countries on direct terrorist threats to the Beijing Olympics. He cited Chinese media reports on numerous failed plots to disrupt the Games which have been linked to separatist groups. “These attempted plots have included bringing down an airliner; attacking hotels, government offices and military targets in Beijing and other cities with poison, poison gas and remotely controlled bombs; carrying out suicide bombings; and kidnapping foreign athletes, spectators and journalists.”

The Interpol chief pointed to the arrest in Indonesia in December of several suspected Al-Qaeda members believed to have been plotting an attack during the Games, and who were reportedly in possession of a map of Beijing and data on various sports venues.

Noble also said the wave of protests over China’s crackdown in Tibet during the Olympic torch relay had “introduced significant additional complications to the normal security considerations” for the Games.

“In light of recent events, all countries whose athletes will participate and whose citizens will attend the Beijing Olympics must be prepared for the possibility that the groups and individuals responsible for the violence during the global torch relay could carry out their protests at the actual Games.”

Noble said that Interpol had been working with Beijing to assess the threat of a terrorist attack at the Games, with Interpol team to travel to China ahead of the Games to train Chinese officers in crisis operations.